The Situation of Cheryl Green
by a Mysterious Illusion
Summary: Accompanying one-shot to the fic Fullmetal Adventure. Cheryl Green is an easy-going local teen in Liore who's own ambitions have so far helped the broken town regrow since the riots. But today is different: Today her life is once again interrupted by a strange alchemist, and something she overheard... [Explanations inside. READ 'EM.]


**The following explains stuff; for those of you who didn't read the A/N in chapter 30, here's what you missed:  
**

_There once was a fanfiction. It was a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood fanfiction, and it had some cool fans, (just calling people fans of something I did makes me feel all tingly) and one slippery-minded author, and one day she decided that since it was technically a self-insert (she didn't know what a self-insert was until she came to this site. No joke) she'd choose one lucky reviewer to be sent tumbling into the world she'd made-uh, altered with her fictional self._

_But then she didn't._

_And then she didn't again._

_And then it was over a year later (..._Di immortales_ it's almost been two! o-o) and she realized she had to change her expectations. So here's this, a one-shot from the **point of view** of the OC version of one DangerousFroggy, an awesome person/reviewer ("Reviewers are people too!") who didn't virtually dismember the author for her transgressions. ^-^' (I tried to make Cheryl as accurate to the description I was given as I could; I hope I did okay with the life I gave her and uh...didn't disappoint too much.)_

Note: This chapter takes place somewhere between paragraphs # 24 and 40 of chapter 30. (Even the single lines count as paragraphs in counting.) I doubt most people would go count the paragraphs to be sure you know when EXACTLY it's happening when you could maybe probably guess, but...I kinda wanna see if anyone will. :P_  
_

* * *

When Cheryl got out of bed that morning, she knew something was wrong.

She couldn't explain it, but as the fourteen year old got up, dressed, groomed, etc., she felt this odd tingly feeling down her spine, like 'Today is gonna be bad.' It was the same feeling she got the day Father Cornello came to Liore, when she first got a look at the guy and thought _'This guy is bad news.'_

Cheryl was never _really_ won over to the whole Sun God Leto thing. It didn't make sense—a lot of things didn't make sense with that man—but she'd kept quiet about it. After all, she was young back then, and by the time she was old enough to realize it was probably a serious issue, it was their unquestioned way of life. So she was glad when the Elric brothers came and got rid of that man...

But then came the riots.

Cheryl shivered at the memory, dropping her hairbrush on her foot in the process. "Ssh-it," she gasped, then knelt to pick it up. "Damn thing," the girl muttered and went back to clearing her curly black hair.

When she was done that, she gathered her things, tossed her bag over her shoulder, and left the apartment with a cheery "Goodbye!" to her drowsy father, who had just barely woken up in time to see his daughter off. Cheryl thought she heard one of the usual warnings—a 'be careful!' or a 'come home soon!'—but she ignored it.

Ever since the riots ended...ever since Father Cornello was overthrown, Cheryl had wanted to try her best to help out around town. Things were bad for a while. Really bad. Her parents had always been somewhat protective of their only daughter, but they wouldn't so much as let her out of the house until things started looking up; until the rebuilding was less difficult to organize. Then she _insisted_ on getting involved.

This morning Cheryl was starting out by the hospital. Not the new place, where all the doctors and nurses took up their jobs in the single remaining church of Leto, but the old one. Or rather the pile of rubble that used to be the old one; she was helping rebuild it so the patients could live in a more comforting environment. There was a long way to go yet, but Cheryl felt that she was making a difference with her unique brand of help. Well, unique in the town of Liore, that is.

The amateur alchemist dug around in her bag as she approached the site of the former hospital. _'Chalk, book, other book, more chalk, snack,'_ she checked off in her head.

Ever since the Elrics had explained away Cornello's "miracles" as alchemy, Cheryl had started to take a great interest in the science. She was, of course, still an amateur—barely a year of training doesn't exactly make one a master—but she still had reason to believe her skills would do good for this town.

"Hey, Cheryl!"

The girl in questioned paused in her bag diggings and grinned up at her daily co-workers. Most of them were hard at work already, but a man and a woman currently stood out from the rest, away from the central building area. "Hey, guys!" Cheryl called back. She picked up speed until she stood with them. She smiled up at the woman. "Got any work for me, Cath?"

"You know it." Cath gestured to the man with the tip of her visor hat.

The man half-smirked. "When _don't_ we have work for you, Green?"

Cheryl lifted her bag pointedly. "When I run out of chalk and ink, I'm sure." She dropped it and looked around. "So where is it?"

The man turned toward where the bulk of construction was going on. "Over here. C'mon, I'll show ya."

The two of them led her over to a bunch of splinters and wood chunks, all assembled neatly in four separate piles. Cath waved her hand over it, like 'Ta da!' "Here it is."

"That's it?" Cheryl squinted skeptically at them, but they nodded. She huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "You mean there's no dust? No wallpaper? No wool or toenail clippings?"

The man laughed. "Sorry to disappoint. But you did a lot yesterday—we're still working with most of the supplies you fixed then. Just short on support beams, if you don't mind."

Cheryl blew some hair out of her face, briefly wondering what she'd do with the rest of her day, then shrugged. "Alrighty then," she said, rubbing her hands together for some reason. "Let's get to work."

As Cheryl worked on turning the splinters into perfectly shaped building materials, she couldn't help but notice that tingly feeling from this morning returning. It was like someone had turned on her radar, and something was showing up on it. Of course, this was completely illogical—humans don't have radars—but she couldn't stop herself from glancing over her shoulders every few minutes, wondering what was different about today.

* * *

After doing all she could there, Cheryl made her way with everyone else to the Drink &amp; Food for lunch. She chatted with Rose and ate some stew and watched everyone come and go; just a typical day for her.

But then that _tingle_ came again. It was weird, and annoying. And it was coming from...

Cheryl zeroed in on someone on the opposite end of the counter. _'Okay, that's not what I expected. I mean it's not like Cornello or anything...'_

"You okay, Cheryl?" Rose interrupted the girl's train of thought as she leaned over the counter, having just fed the last straggler their lunch. "You look a little sick."

"Oh." Cheryl gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. Just a bit out of it today." After a pause, the girl jabbed her thumb at the person she'd been looking at. "Who's that?"

"Hm?" Rose blinked and glanced where she'd pointed. Right by the corner of the bar stood a suit of armor, or what looked like a very tall man _wearing_ one anyway. "You mean Al?"

Cheryl shook her head. "No, I met him yesterday." She grinned. "And of _course _I know who he is—he's Alphonse Elric! Nah, who's the girl in the wheelchair?"

'The girl in the wheelchair' was currently positioned next to Alphonse, and she was playing with a spoon in a bowl of stew. She looked maybe twelve, but Cheryl could see over the counter that both her arms were automail, and she had this far away look in her eyes that put Cheryl off so much that she missed Rose's response. "Oh-sorry, Rose, what?"

Rose looked at her with concern. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you usually space out but never right after asking a question."

"I'm fine," Cheryl assured her, starting to feel self-conscious. "Who did you say she was?"

It took her a moment, but Rose finally nodded in the girl's direction. "That's Felicity. She came into Liore yesterday with Edward. I'm sure you heard about him..." Cheryl nodded. "She's a friend of theirs. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." But Cheryl was leaning so far back to get a better look that she almost fell out of her seat. "I guess I was just wondering why I haven't seen her at the church. She's in a wheelchair—is she badly injured?"

Cheryl didn't know why she was playing 20 questions with Rose about this, but she decided it would be too risky to just walk up to someone who gave her the same feeling a con artist did. She wished she could pin down what it was, though...

"Winry said her automail leg was malfunctioning," came Rose's response, which again jumped Cheryl out of her own mind. "In fact, I was going to help her find a suitable doctor to help with some surgery to fix it. She's having trouble finding anyone, in fact. I don't suppose you know anyone who could help with that kind of thing, do you?"

"Automail _leg__?"_ Cheryl shook her head, shocked that a person _existed_ who had lost three whole limbs. "Um...yeah, I guess so. Dr Kinsley might be able to help."

Okay, this was going on too long. Cheryl needed to get to the bottom of this, and pronto. After a brief small-talk escapade with Rose, she stood up and casually walked around to where the armored alchemist was beginning to wheel Felicity away. "Hey, Alphonse!" she greeted cheerfully, keeping an eye on the other girl with her peripheral vision. She didn't seem to be paying attention. "How are you today?"

The boy gasped lightly as he took notice of her. "Oh hi, um..."

"Cheryl," she reminded him with a quick smile and a nod. "We met the other day, remember? By the old hospital?"

Alphonse perked up. "Oh yeah! I uh...I'm sorry for forgetting," he added with an awkward chuckle.

Cheryl waved it off with a "It's no problem," but inside she felt the teensiest bit disappointed. She leaned to the side, her hands clasped behind her back so she could get a good look at the front of the wheelchair. "Who's your friend?"

At this Felicity finally looked up, and Cheryl was shocked to find that she looked seriously _pissed_. It was only there for a moment, but it was long enough. Felicity blinked up at her and tried on a shy smile, but Cheryl didn't buy it. In fact, Cheryl was beginning to think she should've settled for asking Rose questions and stayed away; she had to resist scratching the back of her tingling neck.

"...is Felicity," Al was saying when Cheryl's mind snapped back to reality. "Felicity, Cheryl. She's been learning alchemy too. Right, Cheryl?"

"Yeah."

"Nice ta meet you," Felicity greeted, but she immediately started fidgeting in her seat with tell-tale body language that said she would rather be anywhere but here. Funny, Cheryl was starting to feel the same way.

Alphonse seemed to read both of them at once and put his hands on the wheelchair. "Well, I'd better get Felicity back to the apartment. Winry wants to make sure her leg stump is okay without the automail on it." The incapacitated girl flinched at the mention of her automail.

Cheryl decided to store her reaction away under Possibly-Useless-Pieces-of-Information. "Winry—wait, you mean she's staying with you guys in Rose's apartment?"

"Yeah." Al chuckled, "where else would she be staying?"

_'Well that explains why I felt weird this morning if she's staying in the same building as me. Bu-wait, no that doesn't make sense! Okay I need to figure this thing out at _some_ point.'_ But right now Cheryl decided to say goodbye and take her leave. At least for now.

* * *

After lunch time, Cheryl went home to get ready for her second job of the day: volunteering at the church/makeshift hospital. She always figured helping the injured and sick was the most useful thing a person could do, so here she was with two ways of doing just that. She spent a couple hours at home with her parents, then let her dad walk with her to the church before he went off to help with his share of reconstruction elsewhere.

On regular days, Cheryl would go to the former altar room and check on the children, the few who were still recovering from bad wounds inflicted during the insurrection, but she caught herself in the hallway when she remembered what she'd told Rose about finding a doctor for that girl. "Shoot," she murmured, turning and running back down the hall.

Dr Kinsley was only visiting one patient today, then he was going home. If she didn't catch him in time—

Cheryl had to grab hold of the wall to stop from tripping into someone just around a corner; she gasped. "Ah, sorry, Mr Hohenheim, I—" Cheryl froze. _'Oh uh. I just walking into something, didn't I?'_

Hohenheim seemed to be talking to a man in a long, black trench coat, who was still speaking; "...you to keep— Hey."

Both men turned toward her, apparently surprised that someone had appeared in the middle of a hallway.

Cheryl suddenly realized that she was being stared at. She flushed. "Whoop, sorry, Mr Ho! I was just running an errand..." As she spoke Cheryl began to slip past the two men. She smiled. "I'll just be out of your hair."

Hohenheim quickly got over his surprise and returned the smile. He nodded. "Ah, all right. It was nice to see you this morning, Miss Green."

"You too," Cheryl replied, blinking her eyes closed for a moment. Then she glanced up at the other man and had to pause. One, because he was clearly Xingese and that alone startled her a bit, and Two because, _'Since when do eyes come in purple?'_

Those purple eyes widened a bit as the man realized she'd paused to stare a moment too long. "You got somewhere to be, sweet stuff?"

Cheryl flushed. "Uh, as a matter of fact, I do. But..." She glanced between them, taking in the serious atmosphere. "...This is none of my business is it?"

The Xingese man half-smirked in a manner that seemed to be mock-charming. "As a matter of fact, it isn't."

Hohenheim raised a hand to quiet the other man. "Why don't you head along now, Cheryl?"

The girl nodded, grateful for an out, and started down the hall again. She'd just turned the corner into a smaller hallway when the strange man's voice picked up. "...don't want my plans ruined because a little girl throws off my game. All I want is for you to fix the issue and I'll let your sons live when I have possession of the world."

Cheryl froze where she was. _'The hell?'_

Careful not to arouse suspicion, the brunette turned and peeked back around the corner. Hohenheim and this strange, Xingese man were a few yards away from her, far enough so their voices were quiet but not enough that she couldn't hear them. Hohenheim was saying something then, but Cheryl only caught the end of it. "...You know your plans are unrealistic, Greed."

_'Greed?'_ Well, that at least fit with the guy's comment about having 'possession of the world.' Still - what the hell? Cheryl knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping, but who could possibly go on their merry way after hearing _that?_ She kept listening.

"Says the guy that shares blood with my _father._ Either way we work together. I just don't want anything getting in my way." Greed's voice, Cheryl noticed, let off an enormous air of self-confidence, like every word was filled with entitlement. Then she remembered what he'd said and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. _'Shares blood? So they're related?' _Hohenheim had never struck her as a Xingese man. Then again, with his golden eyes he never really struck her as anything familiar; she just assumed he was Amestrian.

Hohenheim seemed to be nodding then. "Alright, Greed. But," he added suddenly, "I would like to know what exactly you're planning. Where are you heading off to?"

Greed let out a barking laugh that seemed to reverberate around the hall. "Like I'd tell you everything. But don't worry, I plan on coming back. I gotta be there when you bring ol' mighty pops down."

Cheryl's eyes widened as something in their conversation clicked. _'No way in hell...'_

The two men ended their conversation and started off in opposite directions; Hohenheim was coming this way. Cheryl gasped and fell back, turning to continue walking down the hall. Why was she going this way agai-? _'...Oh _shit_, Dr Kinsley!'_

With another gasp, Cheryl started running again. She should still be able to catch the doctor, then get on with her day. Still, how could she go on with her day after hearing _that?_ Should she tell someone? She shook her head. No, Hohenheim was a good man; he knew what he was doing... He wouldn't let that Greed guy take over the world, right? _'Maybe I should talk to him. The _last_ thing Amestris needs right now is Xing trying to invade us in some world domination scheme.'_

* * *

"How was your day, honey?"

Cheryl paused on her way to her bedroom at the sound of her mother's voice. She'd spent the rest of the day trying to find a good moment to ask Mr Ho what was up, but her daily plans never brought her close enough to him; the best she could do was hope to find him tomorrow, or maybe ask someone else about it. Maybe the Elrics—Edward was military, after all; maybe he could do something, or knew something...or something.

Until then, she had realized with _great_ discomfort upon entering the apartment building, she would have to try and sleep through the anxiety that tingly feeling emanating from Rose's apartment was giving her.

But she couldn't tell her mother _that_. (For some reason no one else was aware of this illogical phenomenon.) Instead, she smiled. "Peachy. Say, mom, do you know if Mr Ho has any plans for tomorrow? I wanted to ask him something."

Her mom leaned on the wall between the entrance room and the kitchen, looking thoughtful. "Hmm... I dunno. It's not like he tells everyone where he's headed every day. Why?"

"No reason." Cheryl yawned. "Welp, I'm off to bed. G'night, mom!"

"It's a little early, don't you think?"

"Ooh, I'm just sooooo tiiirredd..."

Her mom laughed. "Alright, alright. But-hey, bring some supper with you!"

"Kay."

* * *

Cheryl munched on a corner of a piece of omelet as she studied the book in her hand. It was an alchemy book, and a very basic one at that, but it was instructive nonetheless.

Right now Cheryl was trying to figure out if maybe that tingly feeling had something to do with alchemy. Alphonse had said Felicity was learning alchemy too, right? So maybe she was one of those alchemists who had circles drawn on their person somewhere, and that was causing some chemical in the air to be affected somehow, something that could be damaging to breathe in. That didn't really explain why only Cheryl had noticed it, but maybe she was just more sensitive to whatever it was.

Unfortunately, after at least three hours of looking through all her books, drawing all the transmutation circles she knew of and playing around with their elements; and just flat out staring at the wall thinking, Cheryl hadn't found anything solid. The only book she had on alchemy that wasn't for beginners was something on just about every metal you might come across in all your life, which was useful but not what Cheryl needed.

So in one day she had encountered a girl with potentially toxic air around her and discovered a maybe-plan-to-take-over-the-world by a purple-eyed Xingese prince who wanted Hohenheim to kill his sister or something. And no one else knew.

Eventually she decided it would be best to leave it 'till morning.

* * *

In the morning, Cheryl had the luck to be stepping out of her apartment to the metallic sound of the younger Elric brother walking out the door of the building; there was no mistaking it. On an impulse, Cheryl ran out the door in time to see _both_ of the Elrics walking off somewhere; on yet another impulse, she called out to them.

They both turned at the sound of her voice, and when she got to them Al greeted her. "Hey, Cheryl."

Cheryl smiled at him. "G'morning, Al. Hey, could I tell you guys something crazy?"

The brothers gave each other looks. Ed's demeanor had seemed impatient, but when he looked back he looked more curious. "What is it?"

After briefly contemplating how she would say it, Cheryl told them about the things she'd experienced yesterday; it didn't take more than a few sentences for a look of understanding to dawn on the older brother. He placed his hands on his hips, his head tilted slightly, and looked up at Alphonse. "The thing I'm wondering is what Greed was asking for. Not a Xing take-over, I'm sure."

Cheryl blinked. "So you know what that weird feeling is already?"

Ed nodded. "You must be an alchemist. See, Felicity got in an accident a while back, so now people who have performed alchemy can sense when she's around." He waved his hand, like 'no big deal.' "You get used to it eventually."

"Oh." Well that made as much sense as a monkey giving birth to an ape, but it seemed like he'd been vague on purpose. Cheryl pondered this for a moment before looking at Al. "So, what about Greed? And Mr Ho?"

Edward growled something under his breath while Al replied, "We don't know, but I doubt you need to worry about it. If Greed said he was on the same side as our dad, he means it. Xing won't get involved."

Cheryl's eyebrows shot up. "Your dad? Hohenheim?" Al nodded, but Cheryl thought she heard Ed mutter "not really" under his breath. She sighed. "Okay, so...What you're saying is... Whatever's going on with your dad, and Felicity, are under control? I don't have to worry?"

The brothers both grunted in something akin to surprise; Ed looked it. The older scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, kinda."

"Though maybe..." Al started. "Maybe you and your family should think about getting out of the country..."

Edward blinked up at his younger brother, then nodded. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. Just in case."

"Now that I think about it," Alphonse added, looking down at Ed, "maybe we should tell the Rose the same."

"And Winry," Ed put in. The two of them looked thoughtful, like they'd never thought of this before but it was really obvious.

Cheryl blanched at that whole exchange. "What do you mean 'get out of the country'? Is there going to be some kind of...of...rebellion? A war?"

The brothers stared at her like they weren't sure whether or not they should answer that. Then finally, Ed hummed and told her, "Kind of, but not really. It's more like this entire country is going to be in danger this Spring. I'd get out."

"Just in case," Al added, repeating his brother's words from earlier.

Before Cheryl could think up a reply to _that_, Ed clapped his hands. "A'right, Al, let's get going! Lots of stuff to do, lots of stuff to do indeed." He grinned at Cheryl before whirling around to stalk off in the direction they'd been heading before, his long, dark jacket wooshing around him as he did so.

"Ah!" Al visibly hesitated before deciding to follow. "Right," he said, then nodded a little bow to Cheryl. "It was nice seeing you today. I-if you're still bothered by Felicity by tomorrow, maybe you could—"

"Al! You coming?"

Alphonse jumped, then chuckled. "Um, just don't think of it as something to worry about. Bye!"

"Uh, bye."

Cheryl stood, dumbfounded, after the boys left. _'Leave the country? Danger this Spring? Alchemy accident and people trying to take over the world_—_I feel like I ran into a conspiracy then got thrown out. So what do I do?'_

Maybe she should just go about her day, then maybe...maybe she should take the Elrics' advice. It was a bit much for her to try to get involved with big country things just yet; after all, she was only a teenager. For now she would leave it to the Fullmetal Alchemist and (apparently) his family to keep a greedy Xingese man from taking over the world, or whatever else was going on.

Cheryl weighed her options and nodded. Yes, for now her job was to help the sick and wounded. So for now, that's what she went to do.

* * *

_Ten years later she went on to Central and become the Lifeblood Alchemist_. _Why that name? Well... I'm not _entirely_ sure, but the vague ideas in my head and implications in this one-shot says it works. *affirmative nod*_

_I hope it wasn't (too) disappointing; I somehow ended up not having her interact too long with anyone... I started writing, and she immediately became the busy bee who ran around doing stuff. *shrug* I__t was fun to mentally run around in her shoes anyway. Hope you enjoyed, Froggy! ^-^  
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